Today, people have more access to college-level learning than at any point in history. With higher education becoming more accessible, students with different abilities have been able to enter higher education. This includes adults with autism. In fact, more students with autism are attending college than ever before (Kuter et.al 732).  During my time as a student at a local community college, I interned for the Bridges Program, which was designed to help adults with autism become as independent as possible. One of the objectives of Bridges was to work with students on their executive functioning and social skills. To do this, we had students audit classes at SUNY Orange. It was my job to help them develop these skills so that they could be successful in the classroom. The biggest problem I observed was that many professors didn’t want to work with my students. Often, they would even make my students uncomfortable because of how they spoke to the students. At a time when autistic adults are increasingly entering college, professors need to be properly trained on how to teach and interact with students with autism.

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a common disorder that affects people’s social and executive functioning skills. Elizabeth Crais, in her article titled “Autism Spectrum Disorder”, discusses the causes, symptoms, and treatments for Autism Spectrum Disorder. The precise causes of Autism Spectrum Disorder are unknown, but there are believed to be multiple different causes for Autism Spectrum Disorder. The most common belief among researchers is that people have Autism Spectrum Disorder because both of their parents were genetic carriers for the disorder (Crais 253). Some of the signs professionals use to assess whether a child may have autism include: limited response to name; limited pretend play; lack of eye contact; repetitive behaviors; delayed speech; reactions to changes in routine; and loss of previously used words (Crais 253-254). Currently, many different treatments are available to help alleviate some of the symptoms associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Crais lists some of these treatments in her article, which includes teaching children social skills, increasing their ability to communicate with others, and developing their language skills (Crais 256).

Despite the advances that have been made in diagnosing and treating autism, students with autism—as well as students with disabilities in general— have historically been left out of higher education. In Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education, Jay Timothy Dolmage  notes, “The university as a rhetorical space . . . holds a history of injustice in its architecture . . . spaces and institutions cannot be disconnected from the bodies within them, the bodies they selectively exclude…” (9). The exclusion of students with disabilities from higher education is evident just by looking around a college classroom, but there is no reason to withhold education from anyone who is willing and able to learn. This is particularly true in our era, when as a college degree is becoming more vital to living a successful life. Evert student should be encouraged to aspire to more.

According to Dolmage, the past, present, and future state of education cannot be studied without acknowledging what he refers to as “the idea of disability.” He argues for creating more inclusive classrooms, which seems like a basic concept, the broadest way to welcome students with disabilities, but it is a first step that schools, particularly colleges and universities, have not taken. A counter argument to this idea would be that if someone isn’t able to complete the work, they do not deserve to be in college. However, it is ableist to assume that students with autism cannot do the work required of them. They can, but in a different way.

I had many difficult experiences with professors at the community college in my role in the Bridges Program as a peer mentor helping students learn and strengthen their executive functioning skills. As members of the Bridges Program, students audit college classes, taking them for no credit. This strengthens their skills so that eventually they can enroll at this particular community college, retake these classes for credit, and eventually earn a degree. It became a struggle to get professors to allow the Bridges students to take classes with them and some who did allow students to audit, didn’t know how to teach them properly. In general, the professors I encountered seemed to have limited understanding of autism and autistic students.

For instance, in one of my own college classes, a professor one day began explaining what IQ tests are and what IQ ranges mean. When he described the lower IQ ranges, he told the class that many people with autism fall into this category. He explained that people with autism are not “teachable” but rather “trainable.” He compared people with autism to dogs, noting that “a dog doesn’t understand why they are doing something, but they know that if they sit, they get a treat. Autistic  people are very similar.” Of course, this statement is completely untrue, and his words angered me. I was able to teach my students in the Bridges Program because I understood each of my students’ individual needs and abilities. Some of my students had serious deficits in certain areas, but as a teacher I was understanding of these deficits, and I worked with their strengths. All of them had succeeded.

Professors can be trained, just as I was in the Bridges Program, to help students with autism succeed in college. S. Jay Kuder and Amy Accardo, in the article “What Works Best for College Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder,”  discuss different types of interventions that benefit students with Autism Spectrum Disorder excel in college. Kuder and Accardo analyzed eight different studies when conducting their research. The criteria that they used to select these studies were the following: each study had to analyze the effectiveness of intervention; the studies had to include evidence;  and that the studies had to demonstrate the effectiveness of the interventions in a two to four year college program ( Kuder et. al 724). These researchers found that cognitive and behavioral interventions inmproved student success in the classroom. One of the studies they cited was done by Gunn et. al. They used cognitive-behavioral training to assist a 22-year-old student with autism. They found that after the intervention, the student’s cognitive skills increased, and the student was able to interact with students more easily. This led to an increase in their grades (Kuder et. al 726).

Another beneficial intervention for students with autism is social communication intervention. Kuder and Accardo state that “social skills difficulties are one of the core diagnostic features of individuals with ASD. Difficulties with social skills can not only affect social relationships but impact academic success” (727). In a study by Weiss and Rohland, the researchers used social interventions with twenty-three students who then were successful in many of their classes. On the other hand, they also found that five students without intervention were dismissed from school due to poor grades (Kuder et. al 728).

Most college instructors are not properly trained to teach students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and some of them, such as the professor I once had, are openly skeptical of their ability to take college courses. This leads to many people with autism not wanting to enter college. If professors were better trained in cognitive, behavioral, and social intervention, then students with autism would be more successful in the classroom. This training wouldn’t have to be intense. It could simply be a brief training course, but one that would be retaken more than once, particularly as more research is done to find what works. If faculty advocated for this training, and it became the norm across all institutions of higher learning, then we may see even more people with autism in college. When adults with autism are supported and earn college degrees, they will become more independent while also breaking the stigma around Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Works Cited

Crais, Elizabeth. “Autism Spectrum Disorder.” The SAGE Encyclopedia of Human Communication Sciences and Disorders, edited by Jack S. Damico and Martin J. Ball,  vol. 1, SAGE Reference, 2019, pp. 252-257. Gale eBooks, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX7798000077/GVRL?u=newpaltz&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=4a58576d. Accessed 8 Feb. 2022.

Dolmage, Jay. Academic Ableism Disability and Higher Education. Project Muse, 2018.

Kuder, S.Jay, and Amy Accardo. “What Works for College Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, vol. 48, no. 3, Mar. 2018, pp. 722–31. EBSCOhost, doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3434-4.